#53424 - 01/21/02 11:58 PM
The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 4189
Loc: Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...
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Just a thought: beknight, bestow, bequeath, becalm...all indicate adding something. So why does behead imply taking something away? ( Unless, of course, it means adding something to the basket  ).
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#53425 - 01/22/02 01:10 AM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/09/00
Posts: 3065
Loc: Jakarta
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bereft of any adequate explanation, I remain, dear Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,
Bingley
_________________________
Bingley
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#53427 - 01/22/02 11:41 AM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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The "be" prefix seems to me to indicate a change of state.
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#53428 - 01/22/02 11:59 AM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park
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what changes state in because?
actually it does make sense-- it is almost as if the verb to be is added to the word..
butreft? reeve, i know, but reave? quest is from quote-- (last words)
and i guess then be head-- the body changes state-- from one with a head to one with out..
speaking of which...has anyone seen the great commercial for ??? with claymation figures..
He is sitting at a candle lit table, eating and all he is talking is business.. she listens politely for a while, and then.. walks over to him, stands behind him, rubs his shoulder, and then YanK! off comes his head, leaving behind a little ball joint (like a pop bead) she walk over to the closet -- meanwhile he is continuing to talk business, almost oblivious of his bodiless state...
in the closet, she plops his head on shelf,( and suddenly he realizes what has happened, and laspes into silence!) She takes another one off the shelf.. and walks back and pops it onto the body at hand..
Newly conscious, the head looks around, notes candles, dinner and pretty lady, and starts sweets talking..
boy, if life where only like that!
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#53429 - 01/22/02 10:43 PM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 4189
Loc: Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...
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It seems, however, that in all the offered specimens, that there, at least, is an inherent ambiguity in the
be- prefix as in become, which connotes a change to be sure, but it can be either a loss or a gain. Bereft and bereave do, deed, indicate loss as in derpivation or saddened emotion, but with the same ambiguity, you could also say they are adding deprivation or grief to the condition of the party or parties involved. Behead/beheading is the only one, so far, that seems to indicate loss only. Unless the ambiguity creeps in, perhaps, with its coinage in the days of yore when rulers asked for and were presented the heads of those ordered executed...whereby, in presenting such, you are giving the victim's head to, or beheading, the ruler (this is purely conjecture). Now I guess I'll have to scour the be- section of the dictionary to see if I can come up with any more examples that seem to purely connote loss/subtraction.
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#53430 - 01/23/02 01:20 AM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/13/00
Posts: 3146
Loc: Northamptonshire, England
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If you take the "be-" prefix and expand it back to "being" which is where I think it came from, it should all "become" clear. "Beheaded" becomes "Being headed", "Because" becomes "being caused (by)", yadda, yadda. It's a verbal shorthand which has become part of the language. Or should I say "being come" part of the language? 
_________________________
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#53434 - 01/31/02 04:46 PM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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It seems, however, that in all the offered specimens, that there, at least, is an inherent ambiguity in the
be- prefixAs usual, Shakespeare best expressed that ambiguity: "To be- or not to be-; that is the question". 
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#53435 - 02/02/02 12:27 PM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13654
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I've been meaning to get around to this for sime time and finally got off my duff. The be- prefix in Old English had three possible meanings. Quoted from A Guide to Old English by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson:
be- 1 In some words be- is the same as the prep. 'about', e.g. be-gan'surround' and be-ridan 'ride
around, surround'.
2 Sometimes it is a deprivative, e.g. be-dælan 'deprive' and be-heafdian 'behead'.
3 It can make an intransitive verb transitive, e.g. be-<THORN>encan 'think about' and be-wepan 'bewail'.
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#53436 - 02/02/02 02:42 PM
Re: The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 4189
Loc: Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...
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Thanks for that, Faldage! To be- or not to be- is no longer the be- question! (or be- quest!) So I guess the only item left here to bequestion the Board with is "do you consider betrothed to be a gaining or losing, or both?
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#53439 - 02/03/02 12:23 AM
Re: speaking facetiously
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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My dear faldage, and not to pick nits, but there's such a thing as speaking facetiously, and I'd think there's a great difference between "faldage says _______ [ wink ]" and "keiva says ________ [no wink]" I agree with you that a winkless misquote might well call for an apology.
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#53441 - 02/03/02 09:54 AM
Re: speaking facetiously
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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Huh? No apology needed here, buddy. LMBYAB. [beer -e]
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